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Day #224: The Wake (Vertigo Comics)

The discovery of a previously unknown life form in the depths of the ocean opens up a whole new way of thinking about humanity.

My take:

Coming in an 10 issues in length, The Wake can broadly be viewed as one half aquatic horror, one half dystopian action/adventure, with a good chunk of philosophy thrown in for good measure. This made it a 100% enjoyable break from preparation for my class* tomorrow.

The story does feel a bit choppy at times, I think in part because it occasionally sacrifices specifics in favour of the overall story. I feel like this is something that’s pretty common with comics/graphic novels; and it probably only bugs me (occasionally) because it’s only in the last 7 months or so that I’ve been really getting into reading comics, after a lifetime of mostly reading novels.

tl;dr: I think the problem (insofar as one exists) is a me thing, not a comics thing.

Aaaanyway, the first half of the series has a bit of a Deep Blue Sea feel to it, with an underwater base and explosions and the biting off of faces; while the second half of the series riffs off the content of the first half moreso than the feel of it, falling more into the swashbuckling adventurer down-with-authority type of genre. This division in the story allows for the exploration and expansion of the elements raised in the first half, which is cool – but, on the flip side, it also means going from an at least pseudo-scientific story into a much less structured, much more philosophical story. It worked for me, but I can see how it might not work for everyone.

I like the art of Murphy. Moreso because of the monster designs in the first half, and vehicle designs in the second half, than because it stands out in any other way. That’s not to say it’s not good! It’s just…expected, y’know?

Note: This is usually the time of the month where I’d do a novel post, but things are obviously a bit hectic at the moment with the new job and all. I’ll aim to get one up ASAP, and will obviously still be doing my Childhood Revisions post for the month (because, duh), but the best I can say is that it’ll happen when it happens. 😛